“My time in Russia is up” – former Ukrainian ballet dancer Polunin announced that he will leave the Russian Federation

Ukrainian-born ballet dancer Serhii Polunin said that he will leave Russia, as his time in this country is “over”. He wrote about this on his Instagram (in Russian with spelling and punctuation errors).

“The soul is not in place. Thank you for everything that Russia has done for me. The time comes, and the soul feels not where it should be. My time in Russia ended a long time ago, as if now I have fulfilled my mission here. Russia became my home for many years, they provided me with enormous help. They helped me create many fantastic performances. They gave me everything I needed and even more,” said Polunin.

He added that “it is not yet clear” where exactly he will go with his family, and he also apologized “for what he could or could not do.”

As RBC notes, in the summer of 2024, Polunin complained that he was being watched and was being sent “unauthorized” parcels.

On December 11, the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Olga Lyubimova announced the change of management of the Sevastopol Opera and Ballet Theater, which was headed by Serhiy Polunin. Ildar Abdrazakov, the soloist of the Veliky and Mariinsky Theaters, became the new head of the theater.

Serhiy Polunin was born in Kherson and studied at the Kyiv Choreographic School. In different years, he was a soloist of the Royal Ballet in London, the Moscow Music Theater named after Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko, the Novosibirsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater and the Bavarian State Ballet in Munich.

Polunin received Serbian citizenship in 2017, and Russian citizenship in 2018. In 2018, he performed in the occupied Crimea, after which he was sent to the Ukrainian base “Mirotvorets”. From 2019 to 2024, Polunin was acting rector of the Academy of Choreography in Sevastopol. Since 2020, he has been the head of the Sevastopol Opera and Ballet Theater. In 2023, he became a laureate of the Russian President’s award for young cultural figures. In 2024, he was Vladimir Putin’s confidant in the presidential elections of the Russian Federation. Polunin supports the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he held collections of donations to help the Russian military. Polunin has three tattoos with the image of Vladimir Putin on his body.